I know we'd be blessed to get anywhere near a WS but does anyone honestly think we could beat the Phillies IF we played them in a 7 game series? We have two decent startes and two guys in the BP we can trust right now (Aceves and Paps). Youkilis looks likes hes 50 yrs of age, Ortiz, Pedey and Ells are top notch. Gonzales has been amazing in terms of RBI and Ave but i honestly thought hed hit more dingers (i didnt think Ellsbury and Ortiz would hit more HR than him and Pedey would be right there with him). Crawford has just been awful, no speed, average defense and pathetic hitting.

I know we'd be blessed to get anywhere near a WS but does anyone honestly think we could beat the Phillies IF we played them in a 7 game series? We have two decent startes and two guys in the BP we can trust right now (Aceves and Paps). Youkilis looks likes hes 50 yrs of age, Ortiz, Pedey and Ells are top notch. Gonzales has been amazing in terms of RBI and Ave but i honestly thought hed hit more dingers (i didnt think Ellsbury and Ortiz would hit more HR than him and Pedey would be right there with him). Crawford has just been awful, no speed, average defense and pathetic hitting. One things for sure Beckett, Lester, Lackey amd Bedard/Wakefiled does not bose well against Doc, Lee, Hamels, Worley ERA 2.92 / Kendrick ERA 3.22 / Oswalt ERA 3.88/ (all of whom have have over 100 inns) Maybe its time to get realistic. Posted by jamesey271975

I don't think anyone is going to beat the Phillies this year. Although, anything can happen in the playoffs. They are definitely the most dominant team in MLB and appear to be the clear favorites. They have also been lucky to have few injuires to key players.

In April before the first pitch was thrown anywhere, I thought the Phillies were the favorites because of their starting staff. Nothing I have seen this season has made me think any differently. Assuming the sox crawl into the playoffs via the wildcard and Beckett comes back at 80% or better, I still think the sox could get there but whoever the AL representative might be they will have a tall order to knock off Philly who will be in the postseason for the 5th consecutive season. The Yankees and the Rangers are facing some serious injury issues as all teams are beat up at this point in the typical baseball season, so again, if Beckett is in his expected postseason form, we have as good a shot as any other AL team(though Verlander is the wild card) of getting to the world series.

The games are played to determine the winner. Is "picking" the winner indicative of great knowledge? I am flawed because I ALWAYS pick with my heart. GO SOX!! Right?Posted by WesternOregon

It is in horse racing, if you can do it over along period of time.I'd say picking baseball winners involves knowledge. But much of what's necessary to know isn't available to fans. Which is why I don't wager or try and predict one-game scenarios.

The correlation (picking the winner and being correct) needs to be 100% to have any credibility with me.Otherwise your blowing hot air. ROOTING is an emotional response unrelated to being correct. PICKING somehow exposes ones ego as it relates to being "right"...you can brag if you're right all the time. Otherwise? Shhhhhhh! Do you hear the crickets?Posted by WesternOregon

That's not realistic, as nobody can be 100% correct or pick winners 100% of the time over a duration. It operates on a % basis. Too many unknown variables.To be accurate, I don't "pick" winners. I use a process of elimination.

Once one commits to a team or entry, the rooting begins. As you said, rooting is emotional and has nothing to do with being right or wrong.

Ego is reflective of the individual.Whining stems from the emotional letdown of rooting...or being wrong.

I know we'd be blessed to get anywhere near a WS but does anyone honestly think we could beat the Phillies IF we played them in a 7 game series? We have two decent startes and two guys in the BP we can trust right now (Aceves and Paps). Youkilis looks likes hes 50 yrs of age, Ortiz, Pedey and Ells are top notch. Gonzales has been amazing in terms of RBI and Ave but i honestly thought hed hit more dingers (i didnt think Ellsbury and Ortiz would hit more HR than him and Pedey would be right there with him). Crawford has just been awful, no speed, average defense and pathetic hitting. One things for sure Beckett, Lester, Lackey amd Bedard/Wakefiled does not bose well against Doc, Lee, Hamels, Worley ERA 2.92 / Kendrick ERA 3.22 / Oswalt ERA 3.88/ (all of whom have have over 100 inns) Maybe its time to get realistic. Posted by jamesey271975

Can we beat them....of course....it is 7 games and stranger things have happened.....would we big underdogs...yes....2 reasons....one, their pitching is much stronger than ours, in general, so their 3 and 4 would be heavily favored over our 3 and 4 and 2) their 1 and 2, Lee and Halladay, though they match up well with Beckett and Lester, would have a distinct advantage of pitching at least 3 of 4 games in Phila, where we would not have Ortiz in our lineup, unless Gonzo plays RF. We have shown without David in the lineup we are very vulnerable....so not only would we be underdogs in the series, we would be underdogs in each individual game....a very tough proposition

Can we beat them....of course....it is 7 games and stranger things have happened.....would we big underdogs...yes....2 reasons....one, their pitching is much stronger than ours, in general, so their 3 and 4 would be heavily favored over our 3 and 4 and 2) their 1 and 2, Lee and Halladay, though they match up well with Beckett and Lester, would have a distinct advantage of pitching at least 3 of 4 games in Phila, where we would not have Ortiz in our lineup, unless Gonzo plays RF. We have shown without David in the lineup we are very vulnerable....so not only would we be underdogs in the series, we would be underdogs in each individual game....a very tough propositionPosted by tomnev

Very well said, I hadnt given it that much detail thought. When you put it like that, my idea of our chances dropped about another 25%!!!!